As much as I applaud the sentiment expressed by Ms Hewitt, this article is rife with grammatical problems and errors in sentence structure. I appreciate that the author might have dyslexia or something similar, so do not wish to be too critical of her on this point, but surely an editor could have pulled the prose into better shape ? This is a professional news publication after all, and could certainly do with a little more professional editing; see this as constructive criticism though, rather than my attempt to be needlessly negative! I appreciate the good work that you do!

And thank you for bringing the issue of LGBT Syrians caught up in the horrendous conflict to a wider audience! It is much needed and much appreciated! I do hope that my comments did not cause any offense; it was certainly not my intention.

I personally have experience with editing text written by dyslexic authors so that it can be published, and was simply surprised that the good folks at PinkNews had not edited the prose before publication (as they should do with all their contributors, dyslexic and non-dyslexic alike). This is a professional news publication after all…

There is a problem in assuming that this is simply a two-sided conflict. There are at least three separate factions active in the civil war, all of whom have clashed with one another. There is of course Assad’s Ba’athist government and those loyal to it (who have a history of persecuting LGBT people), the Sunni Islamist group al-Nusra (who would undoubtedly be even more actively oppressive to LGBT people), and the reformist Free Syrian Army (whose views on LGBT issues have not yet been ascertained). Although it is this latter group which seem most palatable to most Westerners and Western governments, they are by far the weakest faction in the conflict. Even if the FSA are victorious (with NATO aid), we have no evidence that their regime would be any more pro-LGBT than Assad’s secular regime. For this reason I think Tara has a point that we should oppose all LGBT oppression in Syria, wherever it comes from.

Whatever is the outcome of the civil war in Syria I cannot see things getting better for it’s LGBT population. President Assad is a thug and no better than Saddam Hussein but he does not actively enforce the laws against homosexuality in Syria. Some of the rebel groups however do give cause for concern and it is likely that when the fighting is over Syria will fall under an Islamic regime to the detriment of it’s LGBT population as well as women and religious majorities.

There are many very wealthy Arab states around Syria, with many fit, healthy young men there who could fight. They seem to be doing very little, and it is not for us to intervene in a civil war. The side supported by the west have been seen to hack priest heads off with a bread knife, murder a child for saying “not if you were Allah himself”. I do not believe that more killing and murdering will stop killing and murdering in Syria.

The part where Putin’s support of Assad against the rebels is touted as anti-LGBT is as complete an inversion of truth as can be. The rebels are Islamists! As Islamists, they want to kill every homosexual out of inflexible ideology! Assad, on the other hand, is simply a secular ruler, and for him it’s all a mater of political expediency. So, while Putin is no friend to LGBT, this particular position is not an example.

As for a political solution that the UK and other Western non-neutral countries can really do, here’s a proposal. Legislate banning all military aid to regimes or forces who criminalize GLBT and/or religious minorities, including converts. This “and/or” would create a wide coalition about this measure, ensuring its passage.

The measure would threaten imediate end of funds to thugs like Karzai or Syrian Islamist rebels. But the rebels won’t be able to adjust, their ideology being what it is – and Karzai likely would adjust. So would Assad.